Is Meek Mill Having a Midlife or Mid-Career Crisis?
Despite Meek Mill‘s reputable legacy as a passionate MC and advocate of criminal justice reform, the rapper is currently occupying a very peculiar space in the public eye. With everything that’s going on with the Philadelphia rhymer right now, is Meek Mill in the middle of a midlife or mid-career crisis?
After emerging as a champion of the everyday hustler in 2012, with his breakout track “Dreams & Nightmares,” the song captivated the masses by emoting the pain, frustration and exhilaration that came with chasing big dreams. Meek’s subsequent label that he created, Dream Chasers Records, solidified this agenda in stone.
This mission then took on an entirely different meaning when Meek’s budding career stumbled in 2017. Meek was coming off the heels of a tumultuous beef with Drake, in which he accused Drizzy of using ghostwriters. Then the Canadian rapper insulted Meek and his “Twitter fingers” on the infamous diss track “Back to Back.” To add insult to injury, Meek also received a two-to-four-year prison bid in 2017 for violating his 2008 probation, but when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered Meek’s release in 2018, the MC bounced back and transformed himself into a social justice juggernaut.
He cofounded the REFORM Alliance with Michael Rubin, Jay-Z, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and a couple of other notable names. Since its inception, the group has gone on to pass 16 bills in 10 states around probation and parole laws, according to the organization. Most recently, Meek became incredibly emotional in December of 2023, as a major probation bill the REFORM Alliance had fought hard for was finally signed into law.
To call Meek Mill’s career inspirational is an understatement, but it’s admittedly hard to unsee the odd behavior the rapper has engaged in this past week. Meek’s sexuality became a talking point on Feb. 26 after producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones filed a scathing and disturbing lawsuit against Diddy. The lawsuit accused the Bad Boy Records founder of not paying Jones for production work on Diddy’s 2023 The Love Album: Off The Grid, sexual abuse and numerous acts of violence. Jones cited multiple instances of Diddy allegedly drugging and having sex with underage girls. Jones also says he was groped and touched by Diddy on multiple occasions, and claimed Diddy made him go pick up sex workers to bring back to Diddy’s home. The producer also describes a time when he was sexually harassed by Cuba Gooding Jr. on Diddy’s yacht. The instances all occurred during their time recording Diddy’s The Love Album: Off The Grid. While Meek’s name is never mentioned in the suit, Jones alleged that Diddy once told him he had allegedly had sex with a rapper.
On page 13 of the lawsuit, it reads: “Mr. Combs informed Mr. Jones that he had engaged in sexual intercourse with rapper5 (REDACTED), R&B singer6 (REDACTED), and Stevie J.”
The name was redacted in the document, but the artist in question was described as “a Philadelphia rapper who dated Nicki Minaj.” DJ Akademiks then combed through the lawsuit on his livestream and demanded Meek respond to this allegation. A day later, Meek did through a series of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter. He was angry and even days later, continued to respond to Ak, arguably to a fault.
Through a bombardment of lengthy tweets, Meek accosted Akademiks for days. Meek vehemently denied having any gay relationships, claiming he’s so straight “no man would ever approach” him “about gay activity” and that he’s so “heavy” no one would even offer him cocaine. He then implied that Akademiks was nothing more then an “alcoholic fully powered by the White man.”
“Who you think posting that on every website,” Meek wrote, insisting a conspiracy was at work. “They be so madddddddddddd they can’t stop its few groups!
Meek then used this momentum to try and promote his new EP, Heathenism, which he released independently, before continuing to issue another barrage of tweets aimed at Akademiks. Meek said he would happily give his life to see Ak shut down. Matters were made worse after Ak accused Meek of being a snitch for allegedly calling the cops to the vlogger’s house. All the while, the internet eviscerated the REFORM Alliance cofounder, crafting dozens of memes that taunted the rapper’s sexuality and trolled him for using a gay rumor to promote a new EP. Trolls also pulled up old photos and clips of Meek simply existing and began critiquing his mannerisms as if those alone were enough proof he was a homosexual.
He then capped off an already disastrous week by crashing his car on March 2, destroying the front end of his SUV. The wreck didn’t slow down the Dream Chasers leader, as Meek soon after announced on X that he had hired a private investigator to look into cyber attacks on Black leaders, and said he had plans to move to Ghana because America is “made to tear black men down if you don’t follow orders.”
Overall, Meek Mill’s attempt at damage control has been an exhausting ordeal to witness. More importantly, it’s diluted the latest disturbing allegations against Diddy into pop culture fodder, when they should be taken incredibly seriously. This past week also caps off a bumpy few years for Meek, in which he both departed from his Roc Nation management and was rumored to have been dropped by Atlantic Records.
On the music side, things haven’t appeared much better on paper. In February, Meek dropped Vory, one of his more prominent Dream Chaser Records signees, after Vory was accused of domestic violence. Meek’s last project, Too Good to Be True, with Rick Ross—a concept that would have been a major deal in 2012—sold 35,000 units in its first week. Now, despite Meek’s latest Heathenism EP having impressive features from Future and Fivio Foreign, it’s safe to say the release will be overshadowed by this ongoing, and frankly unnecessary question of the rapper’s sexuality.
So Drake may have had a point about Meek’s unwavering “Twitter fingers,” but regardless of whether this past week’s ordeal represents a mid-life or mid-career crisis for Meek, the homophobic reaction to an artist’s sexuality in 2024 remains the bigger issue.